The Tribune

IN LATE 1973 and early 1974 a police report recounted the details of drug trafficking for the six months. “Two hundred and fifteen persons were arrested for smuggling drugs into the Bahamas. Forty-eight were from the US, 140 Bahamian, 18 Jamaican, 4 Canadian, 2 German.” In that half-year “800 pounds of marijuana were confiscated and 1.25 ounces of cocaine.” The cops found 1,350 pounds of pot “on remote cays or in the customs department.”

Authorities only confiscated 2.5 ounces of smuggled cocaine in a year on average. With the street value of the white powder at least five times that of marijuana, it wouldn’t have been a stretch to predict the storm of white powder that was about to be unleased on the small newly-born nation that would affect just about everyone.

When the hurricane of smuggling broke, as many as 80 smuggling flights a day flew out of Florida, along with numerous boat drops. The bodies piled up so high in Miami that the county had to hire refrigerated trucks from fast food chains to store cadavers.

Banks had to literally clean the cash they received to remove the residue of drugs (presumably where the term “money laundering” originated).

The Nassau Tribune headline from March 13, 1974 highlighted the growing problem: “$3.6m Drug Haul; Police stumble on 76 sacks at remote cay.” It turned out the Royal Bahamas Police Marines were patrolling in the area--simply “stomping around in the bushes”--and found the largest haul in the country’s history stashed under tarps on Little San Salvador Island. The island didn’t have an airstrip and each sack contained at least 100 lbs of marijuana. The article provides insight into the rudimentary methods being used to being pot through the Bahamas at the time, as smugglers began to move south of more heavily patrolled cities like Freeport and Nassau to avoid the DEA.

The Bahamas’ Assistant Commissioner of Crime at the time, John T. Crawley, gave an interview in which he described how the pushers operated by air, sea and land. On the low end, folks hid pot in their shoes, in coffins, in unaccompanied luggage, and even rigged sealed and locked bags of cocaine to be dropped off in Bimini like bombs. Light aircraft were hired from various firms in Florida, seats removed, and flown to Jamaica, then flown back via the Bahamas.

“The planes normally stop to refuel at Inagua, Exuma, Long Island, Andros, or Bimini,” he said. He also said that yachts were also in common use. One such vessel, sailing from Colombia to Nassau and operated by a Brit and a South African, was impounded on Paradise Island after being suspected of carrying drugs.

It seems the details of almost every drug plane in the Bahamas varies according to the teller. The estimated date of the “Staniel Cay” Exuma wreck is said to be early 1980s. “From the drug-smuggling era,” one commentator wrote, “[the plane] can be found in the shallow waters. Belonging to Carlos Lehder’s operation, it ditched after running out of fuel while attempting to land on an unlit runway. The two people on board drowned because the plane was so tightly packed with bales of marijuana that they could not escape.”

Another is “just a little southwest of Ship Channel Cay, marked as a plane wreck on the chart.” the outline can be clearly seen.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper from June 5, 1984 focused on Darby Islands, Exumas, technically owned by Consolidated Investment Corp. The Feds claim the company was owned by a major US crime family with ties to Meyer Lansky, a mob financial whiz. In May of 1984 the minimally developed 554 and 238-acre Darby islands were described by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) as “a base of operations for a smuggling ring that flew eight tons of cocaine originating from Colombia into the US. Six flights, each carrying in excess of 400 pounds of cocaine, were shipped during 1982 and 1983 into West Palm Beach and Key Largo.”

There were 42 defendants named in one related indictment, going back to 1975. The FDLE claimed Darby was “used as an offloading dock for marijuana and cocaine ships, with the drugs then reloaded into airplanes and flown to the US.” A former Eastern Airlines pilot named Tilton Lamar Chester, was accused in October 1983 of moving more than 77,000lbs of pot and 480lbs of cocaine through the islands.

The Fort Lauderdale News on October 5, 1987 reported a plane wreck off Great Exuma in which one Miamian was killed and another man injured, but rescued. The US Coast Guard made it clear that the flight plan of the aircraft was “not known,” which was usually code for drug trafficking. A prominent Exuma family in the Forest and other fishermen from Steventon have told me that the whereabouts of this aircraft is known by locals, which is the case in most islands, as they are good fish and crawfish aggregators.

The Associated Press even carried a story about it. “A small plane ditched at sea about a half mile off Great Exuma. It happened about 10:30 am and Miami International Airport intercepted radio traffic and informed the Coast Guard. Fortunately for 30-year-old Mario Mothersill, a local in a Boston Whaler went to his aid, extracted him, and he was jetted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. It was not known whether the dead man drowned or was killed by the impact of the crash.”

A US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report summarizes one Great Exuma wreck like this: “Dec 2, 1989, Operator Gomes Aircraft Corporation, tail N371, built 1953. Crashed in unknown circumstances in the sea off George Town. The crew was rescued and the aircraft sank and was lost.”

Perhaps the oddest crash involved a lawyer named Thomas Root, who, although suffering from a gunshot wound, flew his Cessna on autopilot (with several US aircraft tailing it) from the Carolinas to 14 miles east of Eleuthera, where it crashed in mid-July 1989. Root survived.

There have been several notable drug planes crashes in the Northern Exuma Cays: a DC-3 in Ship Channel Cay area; a smaller ‘drug smuggler’s plane’ at O’Brien’s Cay; and another, near Rat Cay, also small and shallow.

The NTSB report for the Rat Cay wreck reads almost matter-of-factly: “May 11, 1984 Rockwell Aero Commander 500 operated by Hawk Aviation, N8457C Illegal/smuggling built 1959, 1 fatality. En route from Bahamas to Florida, the twin engine airplane crashed in unknown circumstances into the sea about 17 km off Rat Cay. The pilot, sole on board, was killed. Contraband was found on board. Illegal flight.”

Scott Lewis, a survivor of the industry, recalled on social media how participants jettisoned drugs from planes into the sea. “We usually used a DC 3 single passenger door or C47, a double loading door for loading equipment and later for tossing bales. They made custom doors so they open to the inside. Aft door stock opened out - customized and made to pull in. Bombs Away! I saw one with a bottom hatch too.”

Captain Nigel Bower, owner of Powerboat Adventures on Ship Channel Cay has his own crashed drug plane tale. “An old DC-3 lies just off Ship Channel Cay. It went down in 1982 intentionally after delivering its ‘groceries.’ I have one of the propellers by my bar on the island.”

There is no shortage of various other aerial mishaps across Exuma during that time as well. In May, 1975 a Cessna (N3666E) made an emergency landing presumably at night in Baratarre, Exuma, on the way from Georgetown to Nassau. The plane hit something while landing. In April 1977 an Aero Commodore (N6217X) flying north from Acklins made an emergency landing at Rudder Cut Cay, lost engine power due to flameout, crashed, caught fire and was destroyed. The pilot was 23 years old. There was also a helicopter crash in Exuma in 1996.

From the 1970s to 2000, seven other aircraft accidents were reported in the Exuma cays, meriting NTSB investigations. In November of 1972 a Piper went missing en route from Freeport to Providenciales, Turks & Caicos, and landed in Norman’s Cay. It appears it was damaged on final approach, but was later recovered (N14265).

In 1972, a Cessna with a 26-year old pilot hit trees while landing behind the Norman’s Cay Hotel. He was killed (N2121T) in the crash. From available books and information on the subject, it appears that a succession of owners or part owners of Norman’s Cay--going back many decades--were involved in both the marijuana and cocaine trades.

In November 1973, a Piper flying from Nassau to Staniel Cay with passengers made too low of a pass and crashed, with one fatality (N5218Y). This is probably the accident--confirmed by colleagues—that killed the co-founder of Trans-Island Airways (TIA), Frank Treco. Crash reports state “a Piper Apache in five feet of water off Staniel Cay.” In 1988 Clifton Smith’s aircraft (N14199) was damaged, but with no indication it was drug-related. In November 1971, aircraft (N2724G) from Nassau to Staniel had its gear collapse.

The sad reality is that in the time between this column being written and being read, an aircraft is likely to have crashed in our lovely archipelago.